The present invention relates to garment hangers.
Garments are optimally displayed and maintained on hangers sized appropriately to the garment. A garment manufacturer or retailer can achieve this either by using differently sized fixed width hangers or by using adjustable width hangers. Similarly, an end user could adopt a particularly sized fixed width hanger or selectively adjust an adjustable width hanger to his garment size.
The prior art is replete with various configurations of garment hangers which incorporate structure for selectively adjusting the hanger""s width to accommodate different size garments. Applicant""s issued U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,102,019; 5,511,701 and 5,664,710 disclose some such structures as do certain ones of the references U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,477,873, 3,024,954, 5,044,535, European patents DE-C-286 192, WO-A-94 02056, DE-U-88 04 572 and DE-A-40 07 320 cited therein.
The present invention is directed to garment hangers incorporating improved structures for adjusting the hanger""s width to support garments of different sizes.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an adjustable garment hanger having first and second elongated support arms extending from a medial portion, a transfer mechanism located at the medial portion; and first and second movable arms mounted respectively for translation along the first and second support arms. The first and second support arms are supported relative to one another at an obtuse angle therebetween; and in that each of the movable arms couples to the transfer mechanism by a linkage tongue is for reciprocal translation of the movable arms along their respective support arms. When force is applied on the first movable arm in the direction along the axis of the respective first support arm, the force is translated to the second extension arm for reciprocal motion of the second extension arm along the second support arm. The transfer mechanism incorporated in this embodiment is at least one wheel and in that each of the linkage tongues is coupled to the wheel for reciprocal translation of the movable arms along their respective support arms. Each of the linkage tongues is preferred to comprise a flexible section, located at the region proximate to the medial portion of the hanger.
In another alternative embodiment, an adjustment knob is integrally molded or coupled to the wheel to facilitate manual turning thereof for translation of the movable arms. Conveniently, an electric motor is provided for driving the wheel.
In yet a further embodiment a transfer mechanism preferably comprising at least a first wheel mounted approximal to the medial portion for rotation; each of the linkage tongues having an inner end and an outer end. The inner ends of each linkage tongue is coupled to the transfer mechanism for reciprocal translation of the movable arms along their support arms. Advantageously, in any of the embodiments the wheel(s) includes a plurality of peripherally defined teeth and each inner end of the linkage tongues defines a plurality of teeth. Although the linkage tongue is preferably to be of a rigid structure for this embodiment, it can also comprise a flexible region to interact with the adjustment or transfer mechanism.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of forming an adjustable garment hanger, comprising the steps of arranging first and second elongate support arms to define an obtuse angle therebetween; providing an adjustment or transfer mechanism at the medial portion of the hanger; mounting open ended first and second linkage tongues on the first and second arms respectively for translation therealong; and for reciprocal translation of the linkage tongues along their respective support arms; mounting first and second movable arms to travel along the respective supporting arms; and connect each linkage tongues with the respective movable arms.
In yet another embodiment, the medial portion and the two supporting arms are divided into two halves; a front half and a rear half. The medial portion and the supporting arms of each half are formed as an integral part by injection molding or die casting. In this embodiment, after the open ended linkage tongues are installed in one of the two halves, the other half is covered onto the assembly before the movable arms are assembled.
In a further preferred embodiment channels are provided for guiding each of the linkage tongues along a path that feed the linkage tongue to the adjustment or transfer mechanism located at the medial portion of the garment hanger. Conveniently, each of the channel or paths includes a first segment substantially aligned with one of the support arms and a second segment substantially aligned with the other of the support arms. The channels, or guides, preferable be able to guide the flexible linkage tongue along the respective supporting arm, have guiding walls surrounding the linkage tongue so as to maintain the flexible region of the linkage tongue to stay in a proper shape under control. For that reason, the medial portion and supporting arms are preferable to be structured of two halves made with injection molding process to provide the fully enclosed guiding walls required.
Another characteristic of the subject embodiment is that the full length of each supporting arm comprises of two guiding channels, one on top of each other. One of the guiding channels is configured to receive the linkage tongue connecting the movable arms sliding along the same supporting arm. An opening is required at the end of the supporting arm to allow the linkage tongue to extend external to the supporting arm for connecting the movable arm. The other guiding channel is to receive the proximal region of the linkage tongue located at the other supporting arm of the hanger. The full length of guiding wall to receive the return linkage tongue from the other supporting arm maximizes the travel distance of the movable arms.
In order to prevent the movable arms and the linkage tongues to be removed from the garment hanger when the movable arms are stretched to the outermost position, stoppers interacting between the linkage tongues and the guiding walls or a stopping structure at the medial portion are provided. Alternatively, interacting stopper can be provided in between the support arms and the moving arms as disclosed in applicant""s issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,718. Many different stopper designs known to the art can be implemented to restrict the movement of the linkage tongues or the movable arms when they are extended to a predefined extended position.
It is a design goal to have an integrally molded movable arm and linkage tongue to reduce production cost. There is an assembly procedure conflict to assemble an integral linkage tongue and movable arms onto a supporting arm comprising of two halves to provide guiding channels surrounding the linkage tongue. The linkage arm needs to be assembled into one half of the supporting arm, properly aligned with the transfer mechanism, then the opening is closed by the other half of the supporting arm. Typical mounting structure of a movable arm requires the supporting arm to be fully assembled before the movable arm is slid into the supporting arm from the end. It is very difficult in product to assemble a linkage arm integral to a movable arm into a two halves supporting arm assembly. is To resolve this assembly procedure conflict, the linkage tongue is produced as an open ended part separated from the movable arm. The open ended linkage tongue is then reconnected to the movable arm after the linkage tongue is fully assembled into the two halved of the supporting arms; and after the movable arm is mounted onto the supporting arm.
Another characteristic of the embodiment is that the linkage tongue extends from the end, or remote terminal of the supporting arm through the opening of the guiding channel, and is exposed from the supporting arm all the time. The remote open end of the linkage tongue is then connected to the remote region of the moving arm in a later process of assembly. An explanatory connection design is to provide a receiver at the remote end of the linkage tongue. A mating pin is provided at the remote region of the movable arm to force fit with the receiver of the linkage tongue. There are various designs well known to a person skilled in the art suitable to connect two separated parts together. All these variations are considered to be within the scope of the subject invention. Since one end of the linkage tongue is connected to the remote region of the movable arm, and the other end is connected to the adjustment mechanism located at the medial portion of the garment hanger, it is yet another characteristic of this embodiment that the total length of the linkage tongue is longer that the maximum span of the respective support arm and movable arm combined.